thumberland, which
required the utmost force of the sovereign and his confederate Barons to
subdue. Hence also the intestine commotions and civil wars which were so
prevalent in the feudal ages, and which from time to time paralysed the
progress of the nation, and occasioned the sacrifice of innumerable
lives.

The feudal dominion was, in the last place, very unfavorable to art,
science, and discovery. Its chiefs had little leisure from foreign wars
and domestic tumult for their prosecution, and had less inclination to
encourage their promotion by others. Their attention was absorbed in
schemes of territorial aggrandisement and political intrigue, as to
devote little time to the improvement of the mind. The only learning
which they patronised was the mummeries of monkish superstition and
priestly adulation. True science was neglected, or even discouraged. We
do not find one name throughout the dark and stormy reigns of the
Plantagenets which may rank in the first class of scientific merit. We
must descend to the Tudors before we meet with any light to dispel the
Egyptian darkness which enveloped science. It was the reign of the
virgin Queen Elizabeth which was embellished by that galaxy of
illustrious stars in the firmament of discovery, which mapped out new and
more useful paths for investigation, and will shed everlasting light upon
science. It was in this epoch when the feudal dominion had been shorn of
much or most of its pristine glory, and when commerce and manufactures
were encouraged, and the liberty of the subject was more secure--that a
Bacon, a Raleigh, a Camden and a Davis, arose to delight and bless
mankind with their magnificent discoveries. The paths shadowed out by
these great names were afterwards pursued under still more auspicious
reigns, throughout which we find a joint alliance and equal progress
between mercantile grandeur and civil freedom, and their hand-maiden
science. In these latter times we meet with a Newton, a Davy, a Watt,
and a Stephenson, whose discoveries and works have yoked matter to
accomplish the purposes of man, and made the elements tributary to his
designs. It is likewise more than probable that had the human mind in
modern times not emancipated itself from feudal servility and thraldom,
Britain and the world would have been deprived of these universal
blessings, and our own glorious island would at present hold little or no
higher rank in Europe than benighted Spain,